


Fire

by for_the_love_of_wolves



Series: Alphabet Stories [6]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Burns, Derek stayed in Beacon Hills because I say so, Flashbacks, Gen, Hinted Sterek, Hospitals, Trauma, Wild Hunt (Teen Wolf), season six
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-17
Updated: 2021-02-17
Packaged: 2021-03-13 03:41:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,308
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29520318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/for_the_love_of_wolves/pseuds/for_the_love_of_wolves
Summary: Fire = the phenomenon of combustion manifested in light, flame, and heatPeter was burned so many times, past and present start to mingle when he wakes up at the hospital after the third time.Inspired by @mostly-vo1d's post on tumblr: "friendly reminder not to think about Peter waking up for the first time in the hospital after escaping the wild hunt, and for a moment not knowing which fire he's recovering from."
Relationships: Derek Hale & Peter Hale
Series: Alphabet Stories [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2129667
Comments: 6
Kudos: 37





	Fire

**Author's Note:**

> For this challenge, I write 500-1000 (my muse still can't count....) words stories to prompt words for every letter of the alphabet: F for Fire.

Peter is floating in the darkness. A darkness filled with fire, smoke and screams. He’s been here before. His own personal hell, so well familiar. 

When he opens his eyes, he feels like he's wrapped up in cotton. That’s familiar too. As well as the steady drip of the morphium and the beeping of a heart monitor. His body aching under bandages. The sharp bite of antiseptic in his nose. 

Déjà vu.

Memories float into each other, forming a confusing puzzle … Night. The forest. His fingers, digging into earth. Everything aches. He tries to get away from the house, the fire, tries to get away from all the screams - no, wait. That was years ago.

Was it?

The rush of horror is violent. And freezing cold. It punches the breath out of his chest. 

His family … They’re all dead. A empty, cold place where his bonds are supposed to be. He couldn't save them. Couldn't protect them.

The pain of loss is overwhelming. His wolf crawls at his mental walls, desperate for some form of relief.

Peter wants to move. But he can't. He can't move at all. He's frozen in place.  
  
The beeping noise in the background starts to get faster. A mirror of his frantic breath.

He can't move ...

“Calm down,” a voice echoes through the haze of panic. Peter knows it. It's Derek's … 

Fingers touch his shoulder briefly. They are cool, a stark contrast to the heat that envelops his whole body. 

Peter frowns in confusion.

Derek is here. He wasn’t there back then. He was so far away, the bond was barely there. Just a brittle line, hold together by nothing but longing probably. 

Derek sounds and looks different. Older. 

That’s when the rational part of Peter's mind starts to put the pieces together. This is now, not back then. The present, not the past. He’s not just woken up from a coma, is not catatonic, forced to always stay still, no matter what happens around him or to his body. 

Peter tries to move his hand and his fingers twitch. The relief is almost as violent as the horror was. He can turn his head on the pillow and barely manages to suppress the sob that wants to escape his lips. 

Derek stares down at him, his jaw tense. 

Now that he can differentiate between past and present again, Peter starts to remember why he was burned in the first place. Was it even worth it?

“Stiles?” he croaks, his throat so dry, it could as well be the Sahara Desert. 

“Safe,” Derek says. He looks haunted. “I can’t believe we all forgot him.” 

“But ... you didn’t forget _me_ , did you?” Peter asks, cocking a brow. “Who ... who could forget a guy like me. I’m too memorable.” He smirks and coughs. Every single movement pulls at the burns covering his skin. He doesn't want to know what his face looks like. He can imagine well enough, thanks to the past.

Derek sighs and shakes his head. “You know, you just convinced me you’re not dying.” 

Peter wishes he would have the energy to say something, because he hates to be at loss for an answer, but he’s really exhausted. He breathes a few times, fighting the fog away that wants to pull him back under. “How bad …” he finally manages to croak out. 

Derek’s brows furrow. “Quite bad. Second and three degree burns. They’re not really healing.” 

Peter closes his eyes. Now he does wish he could just pass out and not wake up again. Of course … He knows his healing factor has never been the same ever since he came back from the dead. There’s always a prize. 

Back then, he didn’t think he would get burned like this - again. A third time. He had been staying away from fire rigorously. When California was afflicted by wildfires, Peter booked a flight to Paris. He ate Macarons and didn’t even once look at the news. 

Of course, staying away from fire didn’t do anything to make the nightmares vanish. But he can live with them. Dreams always have an end. 

This however … this is different. 

This is not going to end after a few hours. He is going to stay in this bed until his healing has repaired the damage bit by bit, piece by piece. Maybe, it is going he is going to heal faster on a full moon, but he probably still has to stay here for months. _Months_. 

The thought alone causes the wolf inside to rampage. 

How is he supposed to hide it now? How is he supposed to hide that the flames are always with him? It is going to make him look weak. Vulnerable. Being vulnerable is a death sentence in this world … 

Derek clears his throat. The noise is loud in the otherwise silent room. 

Peter opens his eyes again. Derek is looking at him strangely. Peter doesn’t like it. He turns his head away, staring at the wall instead. “Well, you can leave now,” he tells Derek.

There is a moment of silence. Then, “What if I don’t want to leave?” 

Peter frowns. He has no idea what to say to that. He shrugs. “Do what you want. But don’t continue to just stand there like a book on its shelf. It is freaking me out.” 

Silence again. Until Derek drags a chair closer to the bed from somewhere, the screeching noise causing Peter to flinch. 

Time passes. Peter bathes in self-pity and wonders why Derek is still here. A certain part of himself no one - including Peter - can stand, also starts to regret what he’s done. What led him here. 

I wouldn’t have done that for anyone else, he thinks gruffly. Well. Maybe - big maybe - for Malia. Or Derek. But not for anyone else. He would have laughed if it had been Scott or one of his puppies watching him escape the hunt. 

But it was Stiles. And Stiles is definitely a bearable human. Actually, he’s more than bearable. At least, he is smart and doesn’t have a good filter when talking to people, which Peter can relate to. Also he respects boundaries. He didn’t just take Peter’s books, he asked. And contrary to True Alpha Scott McCall, Stiles is willing to learn. 

God, he thinks with a hint of disgust, I really like Stiles. Ugh. 

Sure he does. After all, he got burned alive a third time for Stiles.

“Thank you,” Derek suddenly says and Peter winces. 

He turns his head to look at his nephew, cocking a brow. “For what now?” 

“For doing whatever it took,” Derek just says. There is something strange in his eyes, something open and vulnerable. Something that reminds Peter just how much Derek likes Stiles. More than Peter, certainly. And in a different way. 

He opens his mouth to tease Derek about it, but instead of words, a pained groan comes over his lips. The morphium apparently doesn’t work so well anymore. A violent shiver of pain runs all over his body, hot and white. Familiar … 

Peter hears a whine and realizes it came from himself. He wants to vanish. Wants to be somewhere where no one can witness this embarrassing display of vulnerability … 

But suddenly, there’s a hand on his forehead, pulling the pain away. 

Derek tells him it’s going to be okay. 

And as much as this is like the last time, it is also so very different. 

Just when Peter starts to think he’s going to get through this somehow, without losing even more parts of his mind, Melissa McCall steps into the room with a syringe and a determined expression. 

The Nine Herbs. Ah.

Funny, Peter thinks when the pain from the injection shakes him and drowns out the pain from the burns. Funny, that no one came up with _this_ back then …


End file.
